Friday, December 28, 2012

Gerald Blaine’s handwritten notes

The Gerald Blaine documents consist of 28 pages – mostly
duty assignments and travel vouchers, but there are two survey reports – one
for Tampa and the one for a post assassination State Department reception
between foreign dignitaries and LBJ. There is also a brief statement, a denial
of having consumed any alcoholic beverages at the Press Club or the Cellar in Ft.Worth.

All of these documents will be posted at
JFKCountercoup.blogspot.com and given to Rex Bradford for posting at Mary
Ferrell.

There are also three pages of handwritten notes, two pages written over a
schedule dated from Nov. 8 to November 30 that I transcribe below:

Gerald Blaine’s handwritten notes (undated):

“Frank Yeager and myself have the advance in Tampa,
Fla. Everything goes well and I feel real
good. Never a thought of the tragedy that is due to occur on the 22nd.
Kennedy makes the first of fateful steps that seem to lead toward the tragedy.
He states that he wants no agents riding on the rear of his car as we did in Europe.
If one was there the assassination might not have occurred. An agent’s life is
a frustrating one. You can set all of the security in the world, but its only
as good as the President lets it be. The day will come when the only way the
public will be able to see the president is by television. The country seems to
be loaded with eccentrics and potentials.”

“I don’t think I have ever been filled so low emotionally by
anything like the president’s assassination. There wasn’t a thing anyone could
have done to stop it and the Secret Service did everything it could do. My
shift worked midnight in Ft.Worth on the 22nd. We
took them to the airport – They flew to Dallas,
went to Austin to sleep for the
next nights duty. I had been asleep about ten minutes in the CommodorePerryHotel.
Art Godfrey came in the room and almost broke the door down. ‘The boss was hit
in Dallas.’ I was groggy but the
sickening truth seemed to sink through and I couldn’t do anything but swing my
legs over the bed and when the shock hit me I couldn’t find the strength to
stand and I was hit with a sudden wave of chills. Then I tried to fight off the
despair and asked Art if he was sure. He said he knew that Kennedy was shot,
but didn’t know if it was fatal. We turned on the radio and finally got through
on the security phone to hear the horrible truth. We just withdrew in our own
thoughts.” “We flew back in a SAC Bomber, myself, Art Godfrey, Bob Faison, Jerry O’Rourke,
Paul Burns and John Bailey (National Democratic Chairman). We arrived back
after Kennedy’s body and set up security at the Johnson residence. (What a
disgusting settlement – Kennedy replaced by Johnson – like a pro-ball player
going from the Yankees to the bottom of the league.)”

“They say that not many single things have an influence on
history, but I am sure this one will.”

“Even though we could have done nothing to prevent it, nor
was there anything anyone could have done except use a bulletproof automobile,
we are all suffering from guilt and failure in our one task. The ordeal we were
to all go through for the next few months was a sad one, but we all came out
with a feeling of hope far greater than we had ever had before. We shall all be
stronger for the experience in the years to come. President Kennedy left us a
little of his courage and we lost not only a fine president but a friend we
will never forget and always admire.”

Blaime’s Statement regarding drinking at the Ft.
Worth Press Club and Cellar reads:

December 6, 1963

I Gerald S. Blaine do make the following statement:

In Fort
Worth, Texas, I worked the 12:00PM – 8:00AM shift at the Hotel Texas on November 22, 1963.

During my stay
in Fort Worth, Texas,
I consumed no Alcoholic beverages at either the Press Club or at the Cellar
Inn.

Before my tour of duty started I had
stopped by the Press Club for about 10 minues. This was prior to the 11:00PM on the 21st of November.

At 5:00AM to
5:10AM I was at the Cellar Inn for a coffee break, but had no beverage at all,
coffee or otherwise.